Famous deaths
2018 – Chas Hodges (b. 1943), English musician and singer. He was the lead vocalist, pianist and guitarist of the musical duo Chas & Dave.
On This Day 2025
Hello, … Welcome to day 345 of the year.

Thursday, December 11th Daily Prep.

Today is UNICEF Day for Change, National App Day and International Mountain Day. Your star sign is Sagittarius and your birthstone is Blue Topaz.
2005 – A huge fire continued to burn at Buncefield oil depot near Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire. It was the largest of its kind in peacetime Europe and the noise of the explosions could be heard as far away as the Netherlands.
A huge fire continued to burn at Buncefield oil depot near Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire. It was the largest of its kind in peacetime Europe and the noise of the explosions could be heard as far away as the Netherlands.
Today’s birthdays

1944 – Brenda Lee (81), American singer (“I’m Sorry”, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”), born in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

1954 – Jermaine Jackson (71), American singer, songwriter, bassist and a member of the Jackson Five (“Blame It on the Boogie”), born in Indiana, United States.

1961 – Marco Pierre White (64), English chef and restaurateur. In 1995, he became the youngest British chef to be awarded three Michelin stars, born in Leeds, West Yorkshire.
1963 – Nigel Winterburn (62), English retired professional footballer (Arsenal, West Ham United), coach and current television personality for BT Sport, born in Arley, Warwickshire.
1964 – Justin Currie (61), Scottish singer-songwriter and a founding member of the alternative rock band Del Amitri (“Roll to Me”), born in Glasgow, Scotland.
1974 – Ben Shephard (51), English television presenter (Tipping Point) and journalist (Good Morning Britain), born in Epping, Essex.
Famous deaths
2017 – Keith Chegwin (b. 1957), English TV presenter also known by the nickname Cheggers (Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, It’s a Knockout, Cheggers Plays Pop).
The day today
1914 – The Royal Flying Corps, which later became the RAF, adopted the red, white and blue roundel to identify its aircraft more easily during World War I. The RFC initially used the Union Flag on its aircraft wings, but this caused confusion as at high altitudes, the cross could be mistaken for the German Iron Cross, leading to friendly fire incidents.
1936 – After ruling for less than one year, Edward VIII becomes the first English monarch to voluntarily abdicate the throne. Edward planned to marry divorcee Mrs. Wallis Simpson and, before he left for France, he made a final radio broadcast to the nation. He was succeeded by his brother, George, who became George VI.

1952 – Derek Bentley, aged 19, and 16 year old Christopher Craig, were found guilty of the murder of a policeman in south London. Because of his age, Craig was sentenced to be detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure, while Bentley, who did not fire the gun, was sentenced to hang. Despite a public outcry, the sentence was carried out on 27th January 1953.

1967 – Concorde, the world’s first supersonic airliner, was rolled out of its hangar for public viewing for the first time.
1975 – An Icelandic gunboat opened fire on unarmed British fishery support vessels in the North Atlantic Sea, heightening the ‘Cod War’.
1990 – The Government set aside £42M to British haemophiliacs who became infected with the HIV virus after being treated with contaminated Factor VIII.
2005 – A huge fire continued to burn at Buncefield oil depot near Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire. It was the largest of its kind in peacetime Europe and the noise of the explosions could be heard as far away as the Netherlands.
2014 – Ray Teret, a 73 year old DJ friend of paedophile Jimmy Savile, was jailed for 25 years for a catalogue of historical sex offences against young girls. He was convicted of seven rapes and 11 indecent assaults against schoolgirls in the 1960s and 1970s.
2017 – A landmark clinical trial at University College London Hospitals (UCLH) and other sites announced positive results for a new gene therapy called AMT-130, which appears to slow the progression of Huntington’s disease (HD) for the first time.
2022 – Four boys, aged 6, 8, 10 and 11 fell through ice into a lake at Babbs Mill Park, in Solihull, West Midlands. They were pulled from the freezing lake in cardiac arrest and taken to hospital, but tragically all four subsequently died. They were brothers Samuel and Finlay Butler, their cousin Thomas Stewart and Jack Johnson.
Today in music
1968 – Liverpool folk group The Scaffold were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Lily The Pink’, this year’s Christmas No.1. ‘Lily the Pink’ was a new version of an older folk song entitled ‘The Ballad of Lydia Pinkham’, and a similar version was the unofficial regimental song of the Royal Tank Corps, at the end of World War II.
1971 – UK comedian Benny Hill was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with the innuendo-laden novelty song, ‘Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)’, giving Hill his only No.1 and the Christmas No.1 hit of 1971. The song was originally written in 1955 as the introduction to an unfilmed screenplay about Hill’s milkman experiences.
1983 – The Flying Pickets were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of the Yazoo song ‘Only You’. Also this years Christmas No.1 and the first a cappella chart-topper in the UK.
1993 – The character Mr Blobby as featured on UK TV’s ‘The Noel Edmunds House Party’, started a one-week run as the UK No.1 single with the novelty song ‘Mr Blobby’. The single later received the dubious honour of being voted the most irritating Christmas No.1 single in a HMV poll.
2000 – Former Verve front man Richard Ashcroft was forced to cancel the remaining dates on his current UK tour after he fell on stage and broke two ribs. The accident happened during a show in Birmingham.
2003 – Bobby Brown was charged with battery after allegedly hitting wife Whitney Houston in the face. Brown, turned himself in to the police three days after a reported domestic dispute at the couple’s home in Atlanta, Georgia. Houston, who accompanied her husband to court, said they were trying to work out their problems “privately.”
2008 – Simon Cowell said he was “very embarrassed” after contracts signed by this year’s X Factor contestants were leaked to the Daily Mirror newspaper. The 80-page document, which is enforceable “anywhere in the world or the solar system” was signed by all 12 finalists before the live shows began. It included a clause that prevents them from saying anything “unduly negative, critical or derogatory” about Cowell. Also the show claimed the prize as a “£1m recording contract”, but the contestants’ contract said the prize money was £150,000.
2019 – Ed Sheeran was named the UK’s artist of the decade by the Official Charts Company. Sheeran achieved the milestone after a combined run of 12 No.1 singles and albums between 2010 and 2019 – more than any other artist. He’s also had the most weeks (79) at No.1 in both the album and singles charts in this period.
Today in history
1282 – The death of the last native Prince of Wales – Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, prince of Gwynedd.
1620 – English military officer and colonist, Myles Standish and 18 settlers were attacked by approximately 30 Native Americans in an event that became known as the “First Encounter”. This incident occurred in December 1620 in present-day Eastham, Massachusetts, while the group was exploring the coast of Cape Cod to find a suitable location for their settlement.
1688 – James II fled to France, never to return and was forced to abdicate after William of Orange (William III) had landed in England from Netherlands on 5th November.
1769 – Venetian blinds were patented (in London) by Edward Beran.
1877 – English photographer Eadweard Mubridge won a long standing bet for a millionaire by proving that a horse’s four feet are all off the ground simultaneously once every stride. He used multiple cameras around the track, each taking a single frame via a series of trip wires.
1895 – The death, at Much Wenlock in Shropshire of William Penny Brookes. He was an English surgeon, magistrate, botanist, and educationalist especially known for inspiring the modern Olympic Games, the Wenlock Olympian Games and for his promotion of physical education and personal betterment.